


Lazuli

by EverlivingGhosts



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Love, M/M, Monsters, Romance, Sickfic, mermaid, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 13:47:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14770764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EverlivingGhosts/pseuds/EverlivingGhosts
Summary: The sleepy cove that sailor Hux lives in is quiet, peaceful and whispering with secrets that he would dearly like to keep hidden. When a shipwreck forces the greatest discovery of his sailing career he must make a choice: keep, or kill.A Mermaid AU written in honour of Mermay.





	Lazuli

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written a proper fic in about a year, but this has been sat on my phone for far too long. In honour of Mermay I give you a Mermaid! AU fic that's been rattling around my head. I haven't yet written any more, but you never know. Please enjoy this snippet and find me on tumblr as Kyloripped!

The ocean was boiling, rolling in anger. Any ship foolish enough to dare set sail soon felt the grizzly waves slap against their keep as the sea roared its discontent.  
  
Armitage Hux was no fool, and yet he braved the unforgiving waves. No matter how black the sky became he would not tolerate trespassers on his land. And trespassers there were; somewhere in the mass of grey manifested the dark, unwanted outline of a ship.  
  
Whalers or some other stubborn trawlers invaded his waters. The calm morning had been coveted by many ships, but most had the good sense to quit when they saw the dark hull of his ship stalk the waves to warn them away. Not this particular ship though, which had clung to the horizon line with some kind of irritating defiance.  
  
The storm had caught both of them by surprise. What had begun as a trading of biting insults had been sucked away by the howling wind, had been dulled by the force of the waves shunting their keels from side to side. Hux had leaned against his stern and shouted at them to leave his waters, but the wind stole his words.  
  
The wind now howled around them in salt bitten fury and the invading ship keeled to the side. Hux, a safer distance into the shallows, felt his breath sucked out of him as he saw the inevitable; an unseen rock smashed against the intruder’s hull. A ripping noise mixed with a crescendo of screams and the boat hovered uncertainly for a moment, suspended for one second of pure disbelief as it was silhouetted against the iron sky. Hux was clutching at the prow for dear life as he saw the water break over their stern.  
  
There was nothing to do but watch; one moment there was a ship, the next there was great jagged hulks of debris floating against the waves. A discordant shout of, _“Don’t let go of it-!_ ” had cut through the roaring, but that could have been mere fancy. Hux clutched the damp wood as he felt the sea ready to suck his ship into its own watery maw.  
  
But Hux was a sailor. A wind bitten, jaded thing, but a mere storm would not faze him. He leaned into the wind as he felt the boat shift, his eyes on alert for any rock or fast moving current that may rise up to thwart him. The pounding of the sea was a rhythm he loved almost as dearly as breathing. Trusting his old ship to guide him he started steering starboard towards the safe haven of the shoreline.  
  
And then he saw it; the shape of a hand seemed to rise up out of the graveyard of scattered debris like a small beckoning flag; _help. Help me._ It hovered above water level before sinking, then rose up again to catch his attention.  
  
The sight tormented him. To go back for what was quite possibly a dead body was madness, but the hand looked like it was moving. It tugged at Hux like a compass point, and before he knew it he was changing course.  
  
When Hux had managed to heave the ship towards the shape the first thing he registered was the dark crisscross of a net floating in the water and dissecting it into squares. The next thing was that there was a _man_ twisted in that net- a large shape pulled underwater by the cruel bonds encasing it. Hux could just see dark hair floating above the water level before it was sucked down again.  
  
Mind in autopilot, he reached into the icy water to grab at the net. He nearly toppled overboard as it yanked away from him. Thinking it was the current, Hux just pulled harder until the rope began to rise towards him. When the face finally broke the waves Hux almost lost his grip.  
  
The eyes were yellow. Bright and mistrustful, they narrowed as the dark lips split into a snarl. The bared teeth seemed all incisor as they glinted up at him in fury. Hux stared dumbfounded and unable to understand what exactly he was looking at.  
  
But the creature, for creature it was, had its neck constructed by the net, the one free arm struggling to rip free from the bonds encasing the rest of him. The more he struggled the tighter the net closed in on his throat.  
  
There also seemed to be blood billowing from a nauseating wound in the chest which made a cloud of red amongst the grey. It billowed and coalesced like ink spreading to stain everything it touched. Hux’s hands were red to the elbows as he leaned into the water.  
  
Teeth gritted, Hux pulled at the cruel net ensnaring the creature. He knew without a doubt that it would die if he left it to be strangled in these turbulent waves. And even more, he knew that to let go now would mean losing the most important catch he may ever find in his career.  
  
The rope cut into the blue tinged skin without mercy and there was another howl as the creature was brought above the water level. What a howl it was- it cut through mouth, then air and then bone. Struggling, Hux pulled and pulled and cursed the sea, the creature and himself for being so stupid to risk his life this way. Somehow the whole weight of the body thudded to the deck as it was hauled aboard. Face down and with dark hair spread on the salt-bitten wood, the creature did not move. Body sagging and bloodied tail motionless, the trauma of the net and turbulent sea seemed to have overcome it.  
  
_Tail._ Hux gawped at the whole length of the man… no, the mermaid. He felt dizzy as the realisation came to him. The tail was an enormous, coiling mass of dark scales scratching against the decking. Bright red blood was seeping into the wood as if it were thirsty for a drink. The rest of the creature was thickly built and so huge with it that it made Hux feel hopelessly small. The broad back was crisscrossed with the pearlescent slashes of old wounds and the hands had unfurled to show sharp webbed fingers.  
  
_It needs to die,_ was Hux’s desperate, immediate thought. One wouldn’t haul a shark on board no matter how much that doleful black gaze cut through the heart to clutch at some kind of mercy. But this was no shark; the large dark lips were still open in a silent scream of pain even as the yellow eyes were shut. It had been a human scream that had come from that mouth. Feeling nauseous, Hux steered towards the shore.  
  
Later on, Hux would never know how he managed to drag the creature across the sand and to his door. Some last vestige of adrenaline perhaps, or maybe he knew that it was the only way to save the creature. He pulled and heaved and a long red line was carved into the wet sand to be sucked back down by the time he reached the blue front door. The creature was still motionless, still succumbing to either injury or fatigue.  
  
The body dragged another line of red grit on the spotless wooden floors as Hux heaved him towards his bathroom. The long, dark tail flopped hopelessly behind them, and Hux saw with a jolt that the tip of his marvellously long fin was torn to shreds. His legs tingled in some kind of hopeless empathy as they entered the bathroom.  
  
Across the white tiles they went. The huge body thumped heavily to the floor as Hux let go, rolling his shoulders and grimacing at the ache there. He stretched out to turn on the taps over the bath. As the water fell into the tub he turned back to the creature.  
  
Its eyes were open.  
  
Hux barely had time to move before the creature darted forwards. There was a horrible discordant screech bouncing around the bathroom as it writhed in his direction. Hux gave a shout as he clutched the bathroom wall for safety. Jaws snapping, the beast accidentally slapped its long ruined tail against the side of the bath. The resulting groan of pain was low and long. Hux took the moment of weakness to leap over the figure and towards the door. Hearing it crash behind him, he stood in the corridor for a moment with chest heaving.  
  
A mermaid. In his bathroom. _A mermaid._ His breaths began coming quicker then. Knowing that accepting the truth would most probably lead to meltdown, Hux locked the bathroom door with a shaking hand. He would think about this rationally and deal with when he had formulated a plan that did not involve him being bitten by those frightening teeth. His thoughts were accompanied by the crashes and shrieks coming from behind the locked door, but Hux was practised at ignoring unwanted things.  
  
  
***  
  
  
The next day was tense. There was the odd thump from the bathroom but otherwise the creature had seemed to slump into uneasy silence. When Hux was making himself some much needed breakfast, he wondered if the creature was hungry. The image of the flashing incisors lunging towards him killed any thought of going back into the bathroom however.  
  
The house was eerily quiet. Hux sat on his doorstep in the afternoon to fix some fishhooks that had bent out of shape. As he absentmindedly twisted the metal he cut his thumb on the sharp barbed tip. The small bead of blood reminded him of the great slash in the creature’s chest and he all but recoiled.  
  
When Hux's rumbling stomach prompted him to make a late lunch he threw some kippers into a pan and began frying them. He watched the fish sizzle in the butter, and his eyes were drawn to the little tails poking the sides of the pan. Did the mermaid eat fish? Hux couldn’t decide if that counted as cannibalism. But he must surely be hungry by now. He would never be approachable if Hux starved him out. Before he quite knew what he was doing, he was stood outside of his bathroom door with a plate of kippers. Feeling stupid, he pressed his ear pressed against wood and listened.  
  
Nothing. But, no, that wasn’t quite right- there was a quiet splash coming from within. Gathering his courage, and more importantly the plate of fish, Hux turned the key.  
  
Inside the bathroom was in utter disarray. His neatly folded towels were scattered on the floor, his bottles of shampoo and gel thrown under the sink. There was water _everywhere_. As Hux observed this horrifying sight, he saw that the yellow eyes were peeking up at him over the lip of the bath. Although the bath was comfortably large the creature was too big to fit in fully and his tail was flopped over the side like an enormous wet beanbag. But he had managed to dip under the water level. They regarded each other for a moment.  
  
Hux was the first to move. Refusing to be intimidated, he walked in clipped footsteps towards the bath with the plate in hand. Stopping at the edge, he proffered it.  
  
The yellow eyes looked up mistrustfully. Hux waited.  
  
“Eat.” He said in a clear, slow voice.  
  
There was one long blink at this. It took hux a few moments to realise that the creature may not understand him. He brought a hand up to his mouth and made an eating motion.  
  
“For you. Eat.” He repeated, snapping his teeth.  
  
There was a slight splash as the mermaid twitched at the noise. His ripped tail flicked more water into the floor. Hux sighed. This was hopeless.  
  
He bent to leave the plate on the floor. As he walked back to the door he heard the sloshing of water which indicated that the creature had moved. He couldn’t resist turning, and when he did he saw the gleaming, blueish torso rise out of the water. The wound there was ghastly but bloodless now, and small beads of water stuck to the skin like small pearlescent beads. The yellow eyes blinked once at Hux as he retreated although he could not make out the expression sat there.  
  
Safely outside, Hux clutched at his temples. His head hurt. He had to find some way of dealing with this creature….no. Ren. Hux’s face creased into a frown. How did he know that? His ear itched, or maybe it was some intangible place he couldn’t reach that did. He did not relish the sensation. He made his way back to his fishhooks, his mind echoing to unfamiliar word. _Ren. Ren._  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
That night was dark and peaceful. Hux lay in his bed with eyes closed and mouth slightly parted. He had been exhausted by an afternoon’s hard sailing as he had needed to bring in a catch to make up for his recent distractions. He breathed softly as he thought of nothing in particular other than a great pulsating darkness.  
  
Bang. _Bang._  
  
The peace of his non-dreams was shattered as a crashing noise echoed about the house and rattled the few items on his bedroom fireplace. Hux’s eyes shot open as he heard the banging, his lips gasping in surprise.  
  
Down the corridor he ran in his pyjamas, his heart beating so fast he thought it may jump out of his chest. At the end he saw in the dull light the brass doorknob shaking fretfully as if it were being grabbed hard enough to be pulled off. Hux stood outside and watched the key in the lock wriggle dangerously.  
  
“Stop this nonsense!” He shouted over the rattle, “Stop it!”  
  
There was a pause, but then the door handle shook even more insistently. Feeling extremely annoyed Hux turned the key and kicked it open.  
  
Inside, the creature Ren looked dreadful. His skin was pale and even bluer than usual, and his hair lacked the lustre it had in the sea. He lay in a painful looking contorted position but his head looked up desperately as Hux walked in. The dark lips opened as they sucked in air without much success. The look in the eyes had more fear than Hux knew what to do with.  
  
“-What-?” He began, but he saw Ren clutch at his neck.  
  
He realised that his hands were scrabbling at the red slashes of gills, massaging them hopelessly as if that would prompt them to work. Hux eyed the gills, the dried out lips and then the eyes pleading with him so desperately.  
  
His footsteps clattered along the hall as he ran back to the kitchen. Inside he leapt up to open a cupboard and grasped at the jar up on the shelf. Running back to the kitchen, he began unscrewing the lid.  
  
Inside Ren was keening softly, his face pressed against the tiles as he struggled to suck in air. Hux shook the jar of salt over the water in the bath with one hand as he turned on the tap with the other. He watched as the white flakes dissolved into the water and wondered how he could have been so stupid to forget them.  
  
When it had filled up just enough Ren leaned over the bath with his wide back straining. He dunked his head into the water and leaned in so that his neck was submerged. The sigh that came from him was distorted by the water but it was a joyous thing to behold; the shoulders sagged in relief and the tail gave a little victorious flick. A moan of relief rolled out of the water accompanied by tiny bubbles.  
  
Beside him, Hux watched him until his ragged breathing steadied. A beam of moonlight fell in a line over the coils of tail, illuminating a stripe of shimmering blue and dark red. He felt the urge to reach out and touch the stripe.  
  
As if hearing this thought, Ren rose out of the water again. He twisted to look up at Hux and for the first time he did not look hostile. In fact, the large lips upturned into a smile. A very human smile.  
  
It was a little too human, in fact. For the first time, Hux realised that he might not be dealing with a dumb beast. The force of the smile made him stumble backwards.  
  
“Well.” He began, “That’s, that’s quite-“  
  
What it was, Hux did not know. What he did know, however, was that this problem was becoming very dangerous indeed.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Throughout the next week a strange routine grew between them. Hux would go out for the day’s catch and when he returned the yellow eyes would be waiting expectantly for him over the lip of the bathtub. Hux left a plate of fish by the side and one or two times even a cake. Ren seemed particularly fond of those; when Hux returned the second time with a Bakewell tart Ren actually leaned out of the bath to grab it off the plate before submerging with his prize.  
  
Out of the bathroom, Hux flitted between one scheme to the next. One idea was simple; kill the creature and dump the evidence into the sea. This seemed the most reasonable option until remembered those sharp teeth and enormous arms. The next idea was to let him heal and then dump him back in the sea. This seemed less reasonable, as Hux had a feeling that Ren would not take kindly to being dragged back onto a boat. He usually sat on his doorstep as he pawed through these two ideas, the handle of his small whalebone knife tapping against his knees. He slipped it back into his boot where it usually sat waiting for him.  
  
There came a time when Hux needed to sail to the next town for supplies. It was strange being amongst people; their chatter seemed extra loud after the gentle quiet of his house. He spoke to no one, his yellow windbreaker zipped up to his chin like a shield protecting him from the bustle of bodies. He held his secret close to his heart, smug in the knowledge that no one knew what treasure lay back home  
  
The sun was dipping back into the sea as Hux sailed home. It had taken longer than he would have liked, and he smiled as he wondered how impatient Ren would be for him. The house was quiet as Hux hauled his shopping back to the kitchen.  After unloading it all he began cooking a late dinner, the hiss of onions sizzling in a frying pan loud and comforting.  
  
Just when they had started to brown, the sound of screeching rent the air. Flinching at the unholy noise Hux hastened to turn the gas off and shove the frying pan away form the heat. He pounded back to the bathroom. Inside, water was slipping over the side of the bath as the great shimmering tail slapped in agitation as it threatened to smash into the sink. Hux hurried over to Ren, alarmed at his writhing figure.  
  
“What-?” He began, stumped.  
  
Then he saw it. On the side of the bath lay his bar of soap on his sleek metal dish with a respectable chunk bitten out of it. Ren was still screeching, spitting into the bath water as he tried to clear the suds and bubbles from his tongue. In a mere moment Hux’s alarm shifted fluently into anger.  
  
“You bit my _soap_?” He snapped at Ren. “My new soap? I wasn’t gone that long!”  
  
A moan in response. Ren tried to sink under the water again, his massive body making even more liquid slop from the sides and onto the perfectly dry tiles. Horrified at the thought of Ren gobbing more of his spit into the floor, Hux leaned over to grab at him. Breath puffing out and Ren still hawking and spitting, Hux struggled to haul him up.  
  
His hands clasped hopelessly at the cold, clammy skin. The texture was odd; a little rough, but not wholly unpleasant to touch. It was the first time he had touched Ren without gloves on. He grasped the thick torso where hard muscle merged cosily into scales and his hands slipped on the skin.  
  
With horror Hux realised his hand was flat against the broad chest, hands skimming a nipple. But Ren didn’t seem to care. He had let himself be brought upwards, his unfathomable yellow eyes staring into him as he whimpered pathetically. Some more foam bubbled out of his mouth. Hux was not sympathetic.  
  
“Do. Not. Eat.” Hux demanded, inclining his head towards the now woeful looking soap dish.  
  
Ren blinked very slowly but again it was the look of a curious beast, not a man. So Hux put a hand on his jaw, pinched forefinger and thumb and shook him like a disobedient dog. He should have been frightened, but years at sea had taught Hux that dominance could be more important than fear.  
  
“Do _not_ eat my possessions.” He repeated sternly. Between his squeezing fingers Ren bared his teeth and _growled_ , sharp incisors catching in the light.  
  
All of a sudden, a strange thought slipped into Hux’s mind. Alien in feeling, it hovered somewhere unfathomable inside of him and fell into being like a pebble being dropped into a pool. It didn’t have the structure of words but instead the tingle of a feeling, a soft thing that tugged at Hux despite how he tried to pull away from the sheer strangeness of it.  
  
_Sorry._ That was the flavour of the feeling.  
  
Gaping at him, Hux’s grip slackened. Ren flicked his tail, droplets flying onto the towel rack. He gave a small keen deep in his throat and the alien feeling rippled again. _Sorry._  
  
“Okay.” Hux said, his head still ringing with the invasion. “Okay. I’ll accept that it was a mistake.”  
  
He let go of the jaw and watched as Ren sank until only his eyes were peeking out over the rippling water. They were full of something darker than Hux had words for. They were not, as Hux had thought previously, the bloodthirsty eyes of a predator, but something else. Primal. Intelligent. The siren pull of them had Hux rooted to the spot as he watched the water sparkle on the top of Ren’s dark coils of hair.  
  
The blade in his shoe bumped against his foot. It was now or never. If he did not act quickly, this man, this _thing_ would ensnare him with that look. His hand twitched and he shifted his foot to the left.  
  
_Warm?_ The strange thought plinked into Hux’s mind again before he could move, another small insistent pebble spreading its ripple of sensation. _Warm?_  
  
This one word cleaved his determination in half in one simple movement. Thinking that he meant the water, Hux reached for the tap to sluggishly turn it on. Ren gave a hawking noise at this, a deep ruk, ruk sound that vibrated under the water. After a few moments of puzzlement Hux realised that this must be his version of laughter.  
  
“What’s warm?” Hux repeated, affronted at being laughed at by such a creature.  
  
Rising a little out of the water, Ren grinned that shark’s grin. His tail flicked again, the ragged ends looking woeful in the bathroom light. He stretched out and the uninjured tip of the fin curled around Hux to usher him forwards. Cornered by the tail and feeling helpless, still very aware of the whalebone blade hidden in his boot, Hux shifted to the front of the bath.  
  
A hand reached out dripping with water. The spread fingers were long and webbed with those dark, sharp fingernails. Ren reached out and touched Hux’s arm below the palm and close to his pulse point. His fingertips were cold.  
  
_Warm?_ The thought rippled again. It had the flavour of curiosity this time.  
  
Hux shivered as he felt the cool skin touch his own. The discovery of Ren being cold-blooded was less frightening than it should have been, for Hux found himself unwilling to pull away. He had not been touched for a very, very long time. Not like this at least; with a soft reverence coupled with a bite of curiosity.  
  
The hand trailed down his arm as the tail nudged him to the very lip of the bathtub. Ren’s dark, plump lips were just parted in a semblance of surprise. It gave Hux a thrill to realise that Ren found him just as curious.  
  
“You strange beast.” He found himself saying as the webbed fingers brushed the warmth lingering in the crook of his elbow.  
  
He stiffened as the hand trailed past the elbow to his hip. Ren’s eyes were now transfixed there, his eyes darting from hip to knee as if attempting to solve a problem. His hand now reached out to feel his thigh, the invasive feelings swirling in Hux’s mind dappled with a strange sort of contentment as the fingers prodded in their discovery. Ren looked up at him and again showed his sharp teeth in a grin. He did not blink.  
  
It was almost hypnotic. Without thinking Hux reached out to finally feel the tail that had been ushering him close. Cool, smooth, damp; those were easy words to describe how the mermaid tail felt. Hux’s tentative fingers also felt the shimmering living jewels of scales, a heavy compass point that would always lead back to the sea. He stroked the translucent tip of Ren’s injured tail fin and felt it flutter against him. A growl followed, but it was so soft. Ren’s eyes were lidded as Hux felt the velvet softness of the undamaged part of the fin. At the same time Hux breathed out sharply as Ren’s hands moved up.    
  
The roaming hand on his own legs had creeped between his thighs. Hux jumped as the odd spell of their mutual exploration broke.  
  
“No,” Hux pulled away quickly, “None of that, thank you very much.”  
  
His cheeks were definitely pink now as he backed away from the tail. Ren had his head cocked as he looked up to puzzle out what he had done wrong, and he spotted the red flush. He gave another ruk ruk noise as Hux’s back hit against the door in his escape. He slammed the door behind him.  
  
Back in the safety of the corridor, Hux slid until his back was flat against the wall. The whalebone dagger tapped insistently in his boot as if to say _use me, idiot._  
  
Instead, he looked away into the high window of his hallway. The setting sun was leaking into blue, the red hued clouded reminding him uncomfortably of the blood he had seen pooling around Ren as he had been pulled up from the deep. The sea had been red and roiling then, spitting the creature out for him. Just for him.  
  
_I’ve got to keep him._ Hux realised. _He’s mine._  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
